German Thyssen family accused of slaughtering Jews

This video from the USA is about Bush family nazi ties.

From British daily The Independent:

The killer countess: The dark past of Baron Heinrich Thyssen’s daughter

She was born into one of Europe’s most powerful dynasties. And involved in a wartime atrocity so shocking that it remains shrouded in secrecy to this day. David Litchfield investigates the dark past of Baron Heinrich Thyssen‘s daughter Margit

Published: 07 October 2007

When I was researching my book about his family, Baron “Heini” Thyssen-Bornemisza, self-styled “Swiss” industrialist and legendary art collector, always insisted that Margit, his vivacious older sister, was in fact shy and retiring, while his family’s castle at Rechnitz had been entirely destroyed by the Russians during the war.

I first suspected he may have been lying when Josi Groh, his Hungarian lawyer, told me that far from being shy and retiring Margit had a “voracious sexual appetite” and that she had remained in residence at the Thyssens’ castle throughout the war, enjoying the attention of the SS officers sent there for rest and recreation. But it was his insistence that the castle, or what remained of it, hid a terrible secret that encouraged me to visit Rechnitz.

In this quiet castle town in the foothills of the Alps, I learnt that in the last days of the Second World War, Margit hosted a party for SS officers, Gestapo leaders and local collaborators during which 200 Jews were slaughtered, as entertainment. Ever since, the Thyssens have not accepted involvement and have played down their Nazi past.’

The story begins with Heini’s German father, Heinrich, heir to one of the world’s largest industrial fortunes. Having profited from the First World War, but lacking an “appropriate” social position, he acquired Hungarian nationality and the dubious title of baron. To complete his reinvention as a Hungarian aristocrat, Baron Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kaszon bought himself a castle at Rechnitz, 150km south of Vienna, on the Austro-Hungarian border. But in 1938, when it became obvious that another war was looming, the “Baron” transferred ownership of the castle to his daughter and slipped across the border to the safety of Switzerland.

From Villa Favorita on the shores of Lake Lugano, Heinrich controlled his German mines and factories throughout the war; supplying the Third Reich with coal, steel and U-boats. He also provided his close friend Hermann Goering and the Nazi secret service with international banking facilities, while in 1941 his August Thyssen Bank in Berlin contributed 400,000 Reichmarks towards the upkeep of the castle, which had by then been requisitioned by the SS.

Nazi loot case against Spain moves forward: Judge says Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection and Kingdom of Spain can be sued: here.

Málaga’s new Carmen Thyssen Museum — the satellite branch of Madrid’s 19-year-old Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum — was launched just three weeks ago at a bash where actor Antonio Banderas served as master of ceremonies, and where Baronness Carmen Thyssen effused that she was “in love” with both the new institution and the town. Now the museum is already embroiled in controversy, with director María López and board member Tomás Llorens — a former chief curator of the Madrid museum — having bowed out, complaining of meddlesome interference by the baroness and the Málaga mayor in their artistic affairs: here.

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